Talk:Epcot
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 |
This article is within the scope of WikiProject Disney, an attempt to build a comprehensive and detailed guide to articles on Disney on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, you can edit the article attached to this page, or visit the project page, where you can join the project and/or contribute to the discussion. |
[edit] EPCOT or Epcot
The article EPCOT refers to the 1960's vision of Walt Disney's future city. The article Epcot refers to the Theme Park at Walt Disney World. They are 2 separate items and should remain separate pages and not be merged. A link should be placed at the top of each to navigate to the other one. -- Joe
Disney has officially renamed EPCOT to Epcot. It seems, then, that this article should redirect to Epcot and not vice versa. Opinions on this? If I don't get any, I'll just move it myself. -- Benjamin Esham
The fact that the organization currently known as the "Disney Corporation" wishes to change the name of EPCOT doesn't alter the fact that EPCOT was originally named by the individual Walt Disney. If the "Disney Corporation" wanted to change the name of "Mickey Mouse" to "Rodney the Pedophile", that wouldn't alter the fact that "Mickey Mouse" had existed.
It's a generally sound principle that things should be at their current name, with a mention of past names. So, yeah, if they did, the page would be moved to "Rodney the Pedophile" with a mention of the former name. -- Tarquin
- Reasonable, but you assume that the corporation has the right to change the name just because they have ownership. Back when the Coca-Cola company owned Santa Claus, they could have "proclaimed" that his name was henceforth "Old Man Cola", but that wouldn't have diminished who Santa Claus was.
-
- You can't fool me, there ain't no Sanity Claus.
-
- All this now and then stuff seems a bit off the point to me - you name articles after what they are most usually called by English speakers in the present day. If Disney were to rename "Mickey Mouse" "Rodney the Pedophile", people would, I suspect, continue to call him "Mickey Mouse," just like Santa is probably going to remain Santa in the forseeable future, come what may. So the question is, what do people most usually call EPCOT? A Google search suggests that "Epcot" is considerably more common than the all-capitals version, so the article should go there, in my opinion. --Camembert
-
-
- OK, moved content to Epcot and added a REDIRECT. -- Benjamin Esham
-
- So officially, then, Epcot is no longer an acronym, but a brand name, and well on its way to becoming an anacronym. Many people I know have grown up thinking EPCOT was an acronym for "Every Person's Country, Only Tiny". -- limesparks
Wasn't there an attraction there that featured Michael Jackson and was subsequently pulled after his molestation trial? I think this would be an interesting and pertinent addition to the entry assuming that I'm remembering correctly and that someone knows the details.David de Paoli
- You're thinking of Captain EO, but of course Michael Jackson was never placed on trial for molestation. Epcot has lots of features that have disappeared and been replaced by others so I don't think this really rates a mention unless you're going to compile a list of them. Someone else
-
- LOL- right. I just have a morbid curiosty watching MJ's travails.
-
-
- And the Ride was, IIRC, replaced before the incident anyways, by the Honey I shrunk the kids feature.
-
-
-
- Correct. Captain EO had seen better days after being used for over about 20 years and was subsequently removed. 01kkk
-
-
-
-
- Check your facts. Captain EO ran for less than 12 years at Epcot. —Whoville 00:57, 27 November 2006 (UTC)
-
-
Redirected EPCOT Center to this page, here is old content of that page.
EPCOT Center is the original name of the Walt Disney World theme park Epcot.
The word EPCOT itself is an acronym for "Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow." It was created by Walt Disney in his plans for a self contained and regulated community featuring a circular shape. It featured belts offering living space and work areas extending from the central region.
After Walt's death, his ideas were adapted by Imagineers into EPCOT Center. The theme park was meant to be the "center" of the never-realized utopia. It is located in the center of the Walt Disney World property.
In recent years, EPCOT Center/Epcot has undergone many changes and the label of a utopian society center no longer applies. Disney officially opted to change the name of theme park to Epcot to better reflect its current state.
Several changes were made in the transition from EPCOT Center to Epcot as it is now. While many attractions were merely alter and others added in unoccupied spaces, some became extinct. These attractions include:
- World of Motion - Replaced by Test Track in the same building.
- Horizons - Building demolished. Mission: SPACE opens on the site in 2003.
- Kitchen Kaberet - Replaced by Food Rocks in the same theater.
Okay.. so.. Epcot is not EPCOT Center and the two are very different.. or, one has evolved from the other. Apparently the original writers of the articles barely knew squat about the place other than what a travel brochure said - and didn't even relay the full information of that. The information needs a home. Redirecting from EPCOT Center to EPCOT to Epcot defeats the purpose.. And by the way, I stuck in "See Epcot CENTER" as a new article so if you want to redirect blatantly how about deleting the leading link from the article you're sending back to?
The balkanization was unnecessary. Mintguy
A thought.. why not a "Epcot History" section or something as part of the original Epcot article?
- Precisely Mintguy
What did Two Halves delete exactly...?
- Oy the page changed while i was typing...
-
- I messed up and edited and old version, fixed now. Mintguy
EPCOT / EPCOT Center / Epcot (by Paul Williams / webmaster@waltopia.com)
EPCOT - was the name Walt originally gave for the city portion of the Florida Project (Disney World). The theme park was NOT at the center, rather to the north of EPCOT
If you take a look at this map http://waltopia.com/gallery/drawing.html you'll see PARK located in the upper portion of the property (where the Magic Kingdom is today) and EPCOT (the city) is the flower looking shape in the middle.
The theme park was meant to be a revenue stream for the city... a place for the residents to work... and a tourist attraction.
EPCOT Center is what they named EPCOT when it opened in '82. It was a sort of nod to the idea that it wasn't "EPCOT" per se... but the center of what EPCOT may become.
The name was switched from the EPCOT to Epcot as the acronym no longer made sense (as noted in the listing).
I wrote the EPCOT article to illustrate the difference between the concept of the EPCOT city and the Epcot theme park. They both revolve around the same theme (albeit loosely), but they are entirely different concepts. The two articles can be connected, but I think they should be separate articles. -- Epcot82
[edit] Celebration
I deleted the paragraph that basically stated that Celebration's master plan was directly influenced by epcot. This is not true. Celebration was much more influenced by new urbanist planning schemes and by the Walt Disney Corporation's desire to muscle in on land development, than by anything represented by epcot (before or after Walt took the deep freeze, I may add). Celebration, IMHO, has more similarities with Seaside, Florida (where The Truman Show was filmed) than epcot.
- when you say "epcot" do you mean Epcot, EPCOT or EPCOT Center?
- Any of the three would apply. Two Halves
Added the connection to Celebration, FL back in. You are correct that Celberation's master plan is nothing like Disney's original vision, but there is still a link that needs to be mentioned. Most every newspaper article about Celebration mentions Walt Disney's original dream.
I might agree that most every newspaper article contains reference to Walt Disney's intention to build a new town. But Walt's idea was so very different in style from Celebration. (EPCOT was like Tomorrowland, except one could live there.) Also, I do not remember removing that link, but I can live with the epcot article containing it. --Two Halves
[edit] Africa?
In the World Showcase section, there's a sentence which lists countries not represented because they didn't want to pay for the operation. It seems to me that Africa is not a country. Should we go with "various African nations", or does anyone know a specific list? Ventura 23:20, 2004 Aug 4 (UTC)
-
- I have a book about Epcot published just before the opening which lists an "Equatorial Africa" pavilion. It obviously didn't work out, but there are remnants in a little shop and food stand between Norway and Germany. A2Kafir 01:12, 25 January 2006 (UTC)
Moracco is a country in Africa, and it is in the world showcase. So technically, Africa is in the park. End of discussion. ---
There were policital issues with Africa that halted progress. Two other places in the World Showcase were to be Spain and Israel.
For more, check out this great article: http://allearsnet.com/tp/ep/ep_africa.htm
---
== EPCOT is AMAZING. Everything I know about I am definitely going to tell my mom and dad and family ==--Jahs133 12:40, 6 Jun 2005 (UTC)
[edit] Alternative images
I found a nice new image of the Spaceship Earth building, but this page is already quite image heavy compared to the amount of text, so I've moved the replaced image here for later user.
[edit] Path Colors
In the article, somebody wrote The pavement at EPCOT was engineered by Disney and Kodak photography to be painted a specific custom color of pink that makes the grass look greener and pictures look brighter.. I do not think this is specific to EPCOT, as MK and MGM also have red pathways for the same reason. Of course, at MGM it's intended to be a "red carpet" and at MK it is also throughout the park, but as used on Main Street -- the only place in the park where this is necessary -- to also more clearly indicate where the curbs are for colorblind visitors. Yes, the red color also helps OTHER colors in photos to pop, one reason why Hollywood uses a Red Carpet for celebrities. My point is that unless the Epcot pavement was specifically engineered to be red/pink versus the colors used in the other parks, this "fact" may be misplaced.SpikeJones 12:16, 16 August 2005 (UTC)
--- This is actually a fact - Kodak did work on helping create the perfect colours for Epcot Center. Obviously what was learned has been used at the other parks since then. You might be forgetting that film sales used to be a huge revenue generator for theme parks - hence "Kodak Photo Spots". Themepark
[edit] opening time
In most years in the 1990s, the park hours were Future World 9 AM to 7 PM (except for Spaceship Earth, and selected pavilions), World Showcase 11 AM to 9 PM.
In the summer of 1996, for the 25th Anniversary of WDW, they extended both sections to close at 10 PM. From that point on, they returned to 9 PM close, but extended Future World's closing time to 9 PM, so the entire park would remain open until 9 PM.
Shortly after 9/11, they switched Future World back to a 7 PM close to cut costs. I'm not sure if has ever changed back to 9 PM.
Holiday hours have been mostly consistent, extending to 10 PM in most cases. Although not announced, the opening time is moved up to as early as 7:30 AM, to prevent toll plaza and turnstyle gate lines from becoming too long. On New Year's Eve, the closing time has normally been 2 AM.
Epcot's Suprize Mornings, early opening days were Tuesday and Friday.
The parking lot normally opens 90 minutes before the official park opening. Most days that is 7:30 AM.
[edit] 20 or 21 torches?
The text in this article reads:
- ...the lagoon is surrounded by twenty large torches signifying the past twenty centuries, and the show culminates in the globe opening like a lotus blossom to reveal a twenty-first torch, representing the new century..
But over at IllumiNations: Reflections of Earth, it goes:
- At the end of the show, the Earth Globe blossoms like a flower, revealing the 20th torch (representing the 20 centuries that have passed)...
So...is it 20th or 21st?--Huaiwei 19:28, 21 October 2005 (UTC)
Orlando Sentinel article 11/8/2005 regarding new sponsorship at the park
Walt Disney Co. has signed a 12-year marketing agreement with technology giant Siemens AG that includes rights for Siemens to sponsor a number of attractions at Walt Disney World in Orlando. Siemens will have its brand on the Epcot icon, "SpaceShip Earth," the nighttime Epcot fireworks show, "Illuminations: Reflections of Earth," as well as new attractions that will be incorporated into Innoventions both at Epcot and at Disneyland Resort, the companies said today.
Siemens inks sponsorship deal with Disney
Doctorindy 13:56, 9 November 2005 (UTC)
[edit] Original enclosure of EPCOT was not a dome
The original plans for EPCOT was not enclosed in a dome... Not a domed city... But the center hub of the city was enclosed. This included the hotel and shopping areas. The green belt that encircled the city center was not covered nor were the residential parts of EPCOT.
The industrial portions of the original EPCOT were actually in a separate section all-together from the city.
Walt's comments about planned and controlled were less about climate and more about slums, employment, traffic, etc...
Please see my site www.waltopia.com for additional information. (This is not a plug for my site - but I've spent years documenting EPCOT from every source possible).
See: http://www.waltopia.com/images/transportation_lobby_large.jpg http://www.waltopia.com/images/conceptual_rendering.jpg
Source: 1966 press materials (c) Walt Disney Productions
This image show the flat roof of the enclosed portion of the city center.
http://www.waltopia.com/gallery/epcot_city.html
Also it is incorrect that the reason EPCOT wasn't built per Walt's vision was because he had to build a theme park first.
The theme park was to drive income for the entire project (along with contributions from sponsor/partner industries) - but the purpose of going to Florida was partly a theme park, MOSTLY to build the community of EPCOT.
Walt passed away before he finished his plans for EPCOT. Yes the planning teams did face legal and community governance complexities as well as the reality of the potential cost of such an undertaking, but the real reason it wasn't built was because it lacked Walt's vision and leadership. Walt himself said that EPCOT was his most important project.oiu
[edit] Original Names for EPCOT
Project Future and Project X were also early names for EPCOT.
[edit] EPCOT History Information
One of the best resource books about the details of EPCOT is Steve Mannheim's "Walt Disney and the Quest for Community"
[edit] EPCOT Parody by Warner Brothers
In season 3 of Batman: The Animated Series in the episode Deep Freeze, an eccentric theme park owner -- Grant Walker (likely puns on Walt Disney and later CEO / EPCOT revivalist Card Walker) -- seeks to be frozen (another common Walt Disney urban legend) to have the immortality to complete his vision of a perfect planned city of tomorrow (whereas Walt died before completing EPCOT). Without falling into original research, a respectable mention could be made of this parody with regard to EPCOT as a utopian planned city. Not to mention this constitutes a convenient jab at Disney Animation on behalf of Warner Brothers Animation studios. 71.246.25.54 09:31, 22 April 2006 (UTC)
That's off topic. If there was a Disney vs. Warner Brothers article, or an article relating to parodies, it would go great there. But to include it with information about the park? That seems erroneous here.GS31212:56, 30 June 2006 (UTC)
[edit] Self Cleaning Sphere
I heard that the center sphere dome of EPCOT is self cleaning. Meaning that it absorbs the rain water and mositure in the air. Then, when the temerature rises, the rain water is released from the material and basically cleans the globe. It would be great if someone who knows about this material can include this in the main article so that we can bring some awe to the wonderous structure.
[edit] Rationale for the recategorization
To better explain my thoughts about recategorizing: The original EPCOT as planned by Walt Disney wasn't going to be so much a "Mickey in a spacesuit" thing (which is what the park turned out to be) as it was to be an innovative (for the time) way to design a city from the ground up. Thus I removed this article from all the Disney categories except for Category:Epcot. It seems the most appropriate place for it, and also avoids the previous case, where we had the same article in three categories that were subcategories of each other. I also added the article to Category:Planned cities, since listing this in an urban planning category is perhaps more important than listing it in a Disney category.
So there you go. SchuminWeb (Talk) 12:47, 1 June 2006 (UTC)
- This comment refers to the Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow (concept) article, and was inadvertently posted on the wrong talk page. I have re-posted this comment on Talk:Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow (concept). SchuminWeb (Talk) 12:58, 1 June 2006 (UTC)
[edit] Mystery Building
What is the building inbetween Future World and World Showcase? I beleive it's called "Odessey". I peeked in it one time, and there was a photo shoot thing (for 101 dalmations, I believe). you need to put it on the page. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Roxas43 (talk • contribs) 30 August 2006.
- The Odyssey was a restuarant that was used when EPCOT first opened. It served generic fast food. --Bedford 22:51, 30 August 2006 (UTC)
- It's used frequently for private events such as the International Dinner and IllumiNations Dessert Reception (one of four Grand Gatherings experiences for parties of eight or more). It also includes the park's First Aid Center and some backstage facilities for cast members. —Whoville 00:53, 31 August 2006 (UTC)
[edit] 80's band name?
Does anyone know the name of the 80's tribute band that is mentioned in this article? I saw them last August but didn't get their name.
[edit] The 1982 Park Map of the Future
Does anyone have a copy of the original park map, made out of thin cardboard in had a rotating part that showed each feature of the park individually. I have looked on E-Bay for such, but if any one has one could a picture of it be posted. Not since 1982 has it existed as far as I know. All I know is it did exist, and that they fell apart very often. This is why they were not used very long I figure. kidsheaven 03:49, 24 January 2007 (UTC)
[edit] EPCOT opening and Dedication
Recent change made by someone is part correct only. The dedication was October 24, 1982. The park opened on October 1st. They were filming the opening for the Disney TV show dedication, also there were bugs in the rides early on. I remember hearing of people getting stuck in Spaceship Earth. Some sections would close for all or parts of days, others were not finished on time for the opening. Likely common to each park opening, EPCOT Center was open late til about 10pm in October, the Magic Kingdom would close early about 7pm or such. Sort of like they learned early on with Disney Land that things go wrong and the official opening is later than the actual opening of the park. I have seen on the History Channel that they had many problems back in 1955, including someone selling counterfeit tickets. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Kidsheaven (talk • contribs) 01:25, 23 February 2007 (UTC).
[edit] World Showcase maps
An unregistered user User talk:69.208.79.177 Special:Contributions/69.208.79.177 keeps adding maps of each country's real location to each World Showcase article. It is badly placed and they ignored the warning the first time they did it. They also change whatever image was in the infobox to the flag, which I think is not necessary. --blm07 06:45, 24 February 2007 (UTC)
I am the unregistered user who kept adding the maps of each country's real location to each World Showcase article, and the reason I did it is because I want the users to get the feel of the real deal, like they're in the actual country. I love countries of the world and I love to sense the atmosphere, such as the music, sights, costumes and architecture. So, editors, if you're reading this, I think you'll feel you want to accept my contribution. User: Anonymous 3:55, 24 February 2007 (UTC)
- We do not accept. The images are much too big and badly placed at the top of the page. A map and flag are redundant because you can simply click on the country's link, and they definitely do not make me feel like I'm there or give me the atmosphere. They are unuseful and annoying. You sickened me by how many times you repeatedly added them back to the articles even after multiple registered users gave reason that we don't want them. Do not add the maps or flags back! Reywas92Talk 20:20, 26 February 2007 (UTC)
